Danville, VA – Bluefield State University men's wrestling competed at the Cougar Open hosted by Averett University on Sunday. In just their third year competing at this event, the Big Blue recorded four place winners for the first time in program history.

At 125 lbs, Ryder Rhodes advanced to the semi-finals on the strength of three bonus point victories before falling by just one point to finish fourth.  

Luke Roberts battled back to finish sixth at 133 lbs. after a first-round loss with three consecutive wins to reach the placement match.  

Greg Dennard (285 lbs) secured four wins and a pair of falls to take sixth place on the day.

Simeon Bryant placed in back-to-back events at heavyweight, sandwiching a pair of falls around a 2-1 decision to make the semis. After falling in the semis, Bryant went on to finish fourth.

Coach Sam Gardner's Thoughts:

"I have mixed feelings about this event. Maybe I'm being more critical of our performance than I need to be, but if we are going to focus on process over results, we leave little to be desired. We had a team record for the number of place winners at this event, which is a good thing. We weren't setting our shots up or sprawling like we need to, so we'll get back to work on Tuesday to get better at those things. We have some work to do, but these guys are not afraid to do the work.